Process of making multicolor prints.



VICTOR PETERSON, OF DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS.

PROCESS OF MAKING MULTICOLOR PRINTS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J une 28, 1910.

Application filed June 4, 1908. Serial No. 436,538.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Vic'i'oir Terrasson, a citizen of the United States,residing at Downers Grove, in the county of Dupage and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processesof Making'Multicolor Prints, of which the following is a specification.l

This invention relates to an improved process of making multi-colorprints, the printing being done by a succession of iinpressions andbeing analogous to the so' calledv four-color process.

Thesalicnt object of the present invention is to provide a processwhereby a subject may be printed in a plurality of colors, properlydistributed and blended, Without the necessity of'providing differentspecial printing plates for each color.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a process which rendersless essential extreme accuracy of register; to provide a process whicheliminates much of the technical and artistic skill, experience andjudgment necessarily involved in successfully car- Aiying outthe-so-called tri-color or fourcolor processes; to provide a processwhich is more rapid as a Whole; to provide a process which is capable ofbeing carried out by extremely simple appliances, in ordinary printingestablishments and at a very .substantial saving in cost as vcomparedwith the tri-color or four-color processes, and

' which in this Way opens up a much Wider iield of application; and ingeneral to provide lan improved process ot the character1 referred to. f

To the above 'ends the invention consists in the matters hereinafterdescribed, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will be more readily understood by a description of aspecific example of carrying it-out; the description of suchI examplebeing accompanied by drawings.

For illustration I have chosen a red rose 'arranged in a blue vase, theleaves and stein of the rose being green, and the `shade and outlinelines being black. Accordingly, Figure 1 illustrates the completedcolon-type print; F ig. 2 illustrates a relief tympan sheet, the reliefportions of which effect theprinting of those partslivhich are to appearin yellow and green; Fig. 3 is a second relief tympan sheet, the reliefportions which it is desired to have appear on the finished print.- Theoutline late is then set upon the press in the usual) or any suitableinanner. The platenv or cylinder of the press is equipped With asuitable tympan sheet, and thereupon the pressman proceeds to print ayplurality of sheets, say for example, la half dozen, so as to have asurplus, using paper which is suitable for use as tympan sheets andtherefore prefenably using the saine kind of pa er as that of the tympanfirst placed upon tie press.' These tympan sheets are preferably printedwith ordinary black printers ink, care being taken to apply the inkthoroughly but sparingly so as to secure clean-cut, sharp impressions.,lVith the saine inake-ready the pressinan runs, off a plurality ofimpressions upon, what for convenience l will call overlay-stock sheets;these overlay-stock sheets being made of rathei'thick resilient paper,having, however, a dense, smooth surface, and of such character that itcan be conveniently both cut into sections and 'readily peeled orscraped olf in thin layers. In practice I nd that paper of the characterof the socalled enameled blotter stock, running yabout from 140l to 200pounds to the ream, is suit'- able. This stock has the characteristicsdesired, and may be accurately cut into desired shapes by the use of anordinary small pointed, sharp knife. Desirably also the pressman willrun olf a few 'impressions on any suitable paper, and desirably on thesaine stock which is to be used for the roposed job. These sheets I termregister sheets and they are used simply for the purpose of helping thepressman secure register in preparing the several make-readyshereinafter described.

With the printed tympan sheets and printed overlay-stock sheets a s etof relieftympaii-sheets is now prepared, one for each dierent vcolorimpression. These relief stock .sheets those portions of the impressionswhich ar t to appear in a given color, say yellow, and mounts thesecutout porl tions in exact register with, and npoii the correspondingportions of the impression on one ofthe tympan sheets. Ordinarily, wherethere is considerable detail, iii doing this he will first cut out fromthe overlay-stock Ai5- the entire impression, transfer it to, fit it andpaste it in exact register upon the iinpression on the tympan sheet; ,\ssoon as the paste or other adhesive is dry. he will then proceed toeountersink, peel ott. or cut out and remove from the' over-lay stockthus pasted upon the tympan all those portions, except the arcas whichare to become the impression surfaces ot' the tympan. The iinpressionsurfaces will thus lie left in relief'. es

artist will peel ofl' tor scrape down such portions as are toappeairless strongly in the finished impression, thus leaving the un`reduced surfaces to malte the strongest inipressions. Uf course, thelsurfaces o'l1 the relief portions may be carved, dug or burned out, soas to produce stippled surfaces or other non-uniform surfaces, upon theprinting areas, and the possibility ol so treating these surfacesrenders the process extremely.

flexible and capable of producing blending` and. shadingetl'ects. Inthis connection it will, of course, he understood that the intaglioportions of thc,tyinpan which are 40 not to print may be removed as tothe entire thickness of the overlay-stock or only a part of thisthickness.

A set of relief tympans one for each color having been thus prepared,the outline plate 5 is removed from the press, and a plaiitplate issubstituted. The tympan whichV was used for taking olf the tympan sheetand overlay-stock sheet impressions is removed fromthe press and therelief tympan for the first color substituted upon the platen. Thisrcief 'tympan is adjusted to register, and a strong butfrather thin(,lraiv-sheet placed over it and secured in place.` 'lhe press being nowready, I run the job through l'or the `first impression or color. Thepress is then cleaned, the draw sheet released, the relief tympanremoved, the tympan for the next color substituted and adjusted, and thejob run through foi" the second il'nprcssion or color. ln the same waythe other relief tympan sheets are applied andv their colors printed,.the printed sheets being then finished so far as the colors areconcerned.

inain outlines. and key plates are, therefore,

used for the final print.

.lelerriiig to the drawings lFig. 1 shows thelinished print or subject,except only the Ihalt-tone or screen lines, which are so l l i As tothese relief surfaces, the printer orx inicroscopical as to be incapableof proper illustration; the several parts of the print being .shaded toindicate their respective colors. Fig. 2 shows the first relief tympansheet in which the relief portions appear as shaded,--yellow beingindicated. The outline lines also appear upon the tyinpanbut are ofcourse not in relief. `Fig. 3 shows the second relief tympan in whichsimilarly the relief portions are shaded to indicate red.Figashowsthethird tympan sheet in which the relief portions are shadedto indicate blue. 4

Vln the finished print the center of the llowc f appears in yellow', thepetals red, the leaves and stem lgreen tit being noted that the yellowand blue lare superposed as to these portions) while thevase is blue,the outlines, dividing lines and shade lines being black.

I "or liner grades of work the plain plate associated with the relieftympan sheets, instead otf being ahsoliitely smooth, may have the usualscreen lines of suitable mesh upon its face, and' a different plateV ofthis kind can ly i applied foreach color impression by the tympansheets, or the same plate can be re-adjusted on the press to change theangle or directionfol the screen lines. Other modifications can also bemade in my invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim as my invention:

l. The improvement in the art of printing in colors. which. consists inpreparing a plurality of relief colortyinpans having their reliefportions (flifl'erently located thereon so as to apply the variouscolors on theproper place in a picture, equipping the bed of the presswith a plain plate and the platen with oie ol? said relief tympans andthen ruiming tin-(nigh the job for the `first color impression, nextremoving sa'id first relief tympan, substituting another relief tympanon the press and running through the job for the next coloriml'iression, finally removing the last used relief tympan and on thepress a key plate and running through the job for the final impressionto receive outlines, dividing' lines or shade lines.

printing, which consists in first preparing an outline printing platefor printing the color boundaries, making ready the press with saidoutline-'plate and an opposed plain tympan, printing a plurality ofsheets of over-lay stock and a plurality of sheets of tympan stock,cutting from each printed over-lay stock sheet that portion to beprinted in a certain color, mounting said portion in its proper place onone of the tympan sheets, and so forming a relief tympan for said color,similarly forming a. relief tympan for each different color, nextequipping the bed of the press with a plain printing plate and theplaten with one of said relief tympans, and running through the job forthe rst color impression, next removing the iirst used relief tympan andsubstituting a second relief tympan on the press and running 'throughthe job for the next color impression, repeating the operation ofsubstituting tympans and running 'i through the job for each4 colorimpression,

and finally removing the last used relief tympan and substituting on thepinten a plain tympan, removing from the bed the plain printing plateandv substituting thereon a key plate and runninglthrough the job forthe final impression to receive outlines, dividing lines, or shadelines.

The improvement in the art of print- 2. The improvement in the art ofcolor in the press, then successively applyin picture.

pression which Aare to lie rinted in the several different, colors, ,empoying these re,

lief tympans s'uccessively'on the press, in opposition to and inconjunction. with a plain printing plate, in printing thel several colorimpressions, except the last, and making the last impression with a keyplate and plain or non-re1ief tympan opposed therelga.- 0I' 4. Theimprovementin the art off-lo printing which consists inpreparingan,ont-` line plate of a picture to be printed, priilting.

a plurality of tympan sheets with said plate, printing also a pluralityof over-lay stock sheets With said plate, peeling olf or countersinkingportions of each over-lay sheet to leave. relief portions for printing acertain color, then securing each over-lay sheet'to a tympan sheet withthe prints thereon in register, then removing-the outline from the pressand substituting a plain printing plate, then successively mounting thetympan sheets with the relief stock sheets thereonl to theprinting platethe colors to be printe by the tympan sheets, and then successivelyprinting the different -colors to form the Vvieron PETERSON.

Witnesses l Lois Fonos, ALBERT H. GRAVES'.

ing to the parts of the im-

